Various journal articles referred to herein are identified by number in parentheses and are listed, with full citations, at the end of the specification.
Haemophilus influenzae is a respiratory pathogen which colonises human mucosal surfaces and is associated with otitis media, sinusitis, conjunctivitis, bronchitis, pneumonia, meningitis, epiglottitis and cellulitis [1, 2]. The natural habitat and reservoir for this organism is the upper respiratory mucosal surfaces, primarily the nasopharynx [3]. Mucosal surfaces are ports of entry and major sites of many infectious agents. Many pathogens, including viruses [4, 5], bacteria [6, 7] and bacterial toxins [8] bind to specific carbohydrate moieties on the mucosal surfaces, enabling colonization and infection and potentially mediating a toxic effect on the host cells. These carbohydrate moieties may be present in either glycolipids or glycoproteins. For example, many respiratory pathogens recognise gangliotriaosylceramide (GalNAc.beta.1-4gal.beta.1-4glc cer [Gg.sub.3 ]), gangliotetraosylceramide (gal.beta.1-3galNAc.beta.1-4gal.beta.1-4glc cer [Gg.sub.4 ]) [7, 9-15] and sulfatoxygalactosylceramide [SGC] [16, 17]. Respiratory pathogens have also been identified which recognize phosphatidylethanolamine (PE). PE, Gg.sub.3 and Gg.sub.4 are also recognised by such pathogens as Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Burholderia cepacia Chlamydia trachomatis, C. pneumoniae, Neisseria Meningitis, enteropathogenic Escherichia coli, and H. Pylori (9-14, 26, 29, 32).
There is a need for new means of combatting infections due to these pathogens, as antibiotic resistance becomes increasingly common. A vaccine to stimulate the production of antibodies which would interfere with the attachment of these pathogens to their target cells would be of great assistance in combatting such infections.